How to Root Samsung Galaxy S5 Active (SM-G870F)

The first thing you must do to get root access on your Android operating system is unlock the bootloader. Once you have the bootloader unlocked on your Samsung Galaxy S5, you void the manufacturer’s warranty. The warranty doesn’t matter since you also lose the warranty if you get root access, install a custom recovery and install a custom ROM. Any one of those tasks does immediately void the warranty. Just because you are voiding the warranty on your device doesn’t mean you are doing anything bad. In fact, the Android operating system comes with “root access” before companies like Google stamp their authority on the operating system. The reason Google and your OEM want the operating system locked is for extra security. That’s understandable since there are many people in the world buying smartphone running Android and half of those wouldn’t have a clue how to spot malware. However, the rest of us who do know how to spot malware are missing out on a great deal of fun without root access to our file system. many of the best application on the Google Play Store require access to this root file system to work.

The Files You Need

Sometimes a device doesn’t take to a particular version of Odin and you need to try a different version. You can find the rest of the Odin versions from this page.

You are voiding the Samsung Galaxy S5 Active’s warranty by following this guide. If your device is one of the devices that comes with Knox security, you will not get that warranty working again. Those you without Knox security by Samsung can unroot the device and return back to the stock ROM. Once you do that, the warranty is working again.

Rooting the Samsung Galaxy S5 Active SM-G870F

Download the rooting bundle from the files section above and move it to the desktop of the computer.

Right-click over the file and select the “extract here” option from the new menu.

You should find the Odin and rooting files inside the folder after you extract it.

Double-click over the Odin file and the Odin app will run on your computer.

Turn off the Galaxy S5 smartphone and reboot it in the download mode. Press the Volume Down + Home + Power keys to reboot to the download mode screen.

Press the Volume Up button when it says to press Volume Up on the S5 smartphone’s display.

Now that your S5 Active is in the down load mode, connect it to the computer using the USB cable.

The ID: COM port should light up on the Odin app on the computer if your drivers are working.

Click the PDA or AP button in the Odin app on the computer and browse the desktop for the executable rooting file. You should identify this as the CF-Auto-Root tool.

Leave the default settings and click the Start button.

Wait for around 15 minutes for your device to get the root access and the Odin app on the computer to give you a pass message.

Wait for the device to reboot and then take control of your Google account once again.

You are ready to begin installing root-requiring application from the Google Play Store. Choose any app you wish! Some of them will be available for free and others will be paid apps — there are no limits to what you can install. Just pay for the apps as you normally would any other app.

You might like to start with installing the root checker app before installing the root-only apps.